The invention relates to a display device for indicating upcoming, automatically performed, steering interventions in a vehicle.
Prototypes of vehicles which can travel in an automated manner, that is to say plan and carry out driving maneuvers, without the need for human intervention are known nowadays. It can be foreseen that developments in this field will advance and partially or completely automated driving will be used more and more often.
In this case, a passenger in an automatically moving vehicle is initially not included in the decision relating to upcoming driving maneuvers. The passenger is initially unable to gain insight into the state of the calculated upcoming maneuvers and/or to control them. Therefore, a passenger initially cannot assess the safety of the upcoming calculated journey. However, the passenger is naturally exposed to these driving maneuvers, which also concomitantly includes the effect of forces on his body, for example when accelerating, braking, changing lanes or cornering. At the same time, it is often not possible to prepare for these maneuvers, which, for some people, may result in nausea or other adverse effects on health.
A similar situation already arises nowadays with parking assistant systems which are in series production and automatically control the vehicle steering while parking.
The object of the invention is to present the state of the route planning, in particular upcoming steering interventions, to the passenger in a vehicle with automatic steering.
This and other objects of the invention are achieved by a display device for indicating upcoming automatically performed steering interventions in a vehicle, which display device comprises: a vehicle steering wheel; a light strip comprising a plurality of light elements positioned beside one another; wherein the light strip is included and is visible in the vehicle steering wheel; a control device which is coupled to the light strip and is set up for the following: receiving information relating to upcoming automatically performed steering interventions, in particular from a unit for automatically determining upcoming driving maneuvers; and activating light elements of the light strip on the basis of the received information relating to upcoming steering interventions.
In this manner, the planned steering intervention and, therefore, the internal state of the automatic route planning are displayed in an intuitive and comprehensible manner for the passenger. It is therefore possible for the passenger to monitor the safety of at least steering interventions of the automatic route planning. The passenger can therefore prepare himself for the upcoming forces and movements, which reduces the risk of nausea.
The light strip may include a plurality of light elements arranged in a row, similar to a string of elements in a chain. A plurality of parallel strings in the sense of a strip-shaped matrix may also be present. The light elements may be LEDs, OLEDs or similar luminous means known in the prior art. The light strip may also be visible on the steering wheel in the inactive state or else may be arranged behind a covering such that only the respectively active light elements are visible to the passenger.
In one development, the automatic steering intervention includes the automatic rotation of the steering wheel and the selection of light elements includes: determining the number of light elements which are activated on the basis of the magnitude of the rotation of the upcoming steering intervention. A vehicle which carries out driving maneuvers in an automated manner typically also has a steering wheel which can be operated by the passenger. At the same time, this steering wheel is also concomitantly moved, during automatic steering interventions, in a manner corresponding to the degree to which the wheels of the vehicle are turned. In this development, more light elements are activated the greater the magnitude of the upcoming rotation of the steering wheel. This presents upcoming steering interventions in a simple manner and by means of spatial coupling to the steering wheel.
The light strip may be mounted in the steering wheel rim or in the impact absorber of the vehicle steering wheel.
It is often additionally possible for the passenger to override the automatic steering intervention by way of his own actuation (rotation) of the steering wheel, with the result that his actuation predefines the lateral guidance of the vehicle.
In one development, a reference point is predefined on the light strip and a direction of rotation of the steering wheel is assigned to the light elements of the light strip on one side of the reference point. In the event of rotation of the steering wheel in this direction of rotation, the light elements assigned to this direction of rotation are activated. In the event of rotation of the steering wheel in one direction, light elements on the same side of the reference point are therefore respectively activated. The assignment is advantageously carried out in such a manner that, in the event of rotation of the steering wheel to the left, light elements to the left of the reference point are activated and vice versa for a rotation to the right.
The reference point is advantageously selected in such a manner that a vector from the center of the axis of rotation of the steering wheel to the reference point does not have a vector component in the lateral direction with respect to the vehicle when the vehicle is traveling straight ahead. A vector component symbolizes one spatial direction when breaking the vector down into three spatial directions, one of which points in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle, one of which points in the lateral direction and one of which points vertically upward. The reference point therefore does not have a lateral deviation and symbolizes traveling straight ahead. In a typical implementation, in the case of a steering wheel position for traveling straight ahead, the reference point is at the highest point of the steering wheel rim or is vertically below it.
In one particularly advantageous further development, in the event of rotation of the steering wheel, the reference point is rotated in a manner corresponding to the rotation of the steering wheel. This means that the reference point moves like the steering wheel, that is to say appears to be attached to the latter. At the same time, the light elements are activated in such a manner that, during the rotation of the steering wheel, they indicate the upcoming position of the reference point. In this case, the upcoming position may relate to a predetermined time (for example 1 s, 2 s or 5 s) in the future. The upcoming position of the reference point simultaneously represents the upcoming position of the steering wheel or upcoming rotation of the steering wheel in this case. The light elements may be activated such that light elements which are between the reference point and the position of the reference point at a predetermined time in the future, in particular at a time of 1 s, 2 s, 3 s or 5 s in the future, are activated. A path of activated light elements which will be followed by the reference point therefore exists for the user. In this case, provision may be made for the light elements to be gradually deactivated as soon as the reference point has passed over the respective light element during rotation. In other words, only the path of the reference point between the current position of the reference point and the upcoming position of the reference point is marked by activating the light elements on this path. The growth of the light path over time is therefore correlated with the rotational movement of the steering wheel over time and has only a temporal offset. Light elements may be continuously activated and deactivated in this case. That is to say the activation of the light elements is always updated in short periods, for example every 0.01 s, 0.05 s, 0.1 s, 0.2 s or 0.5 s.
Other objects, advantages and novel features of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description of one or more preferred embodiments when considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.
Identical reference symbols denote corresponding elements across the figures.